Erick Erickson HR 2 09-11-25

It is Eric Erickson here this sad day. And it is for a lot of reasons. We haven't even talked about 9-11 yet. We will. The phone number is 877-97-933-7-4-25. Should you wish to be on the program. You know, there was a report at The Christian Post a while back, assassination culture, half of left-leading Americans say assassinating Trump and Elon Musk is justified. I want to get there. First, I want to talk to you about Nate Burleson. Nate Burleson is an anchor on CBS Morning program, and he had on Republicans. I want to play you this clip. The beginning of this clip is so necessary for you to hear. And as Tony mentioned, not everyone took to his words or his rhetoric. You know, at times, there were offensive to specific communities. But with that said, this is not the time to focus on that. We are focused on this tragedy. You got that. He couldn't start with anything other. You know, he said a lot of stuff that offended some communities. Yeah, a lot of people do, including Nate Burleson, who just offended me. You don't have to go there. It's your choice. And it's the choice that I've seen a lot of people on the left make of, oh, I disagree with everything he said, but let's not focus on that. Let's focus on this instead. The quiet little virtue signal of left-wing anchors. And let's just listen to him, go on.

Reflect on political violence. Is it a moment for us to think about the responsibility of our political leaders and their voices and what it does to the masses as they get lost in misinformation or disinformation that turns in and spills into political violence? I say both parties, you know? I don't even say parties. I say a nation. Okay. If there's a moment in time we want to look to, and I looked back and I watched this again when... Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running, and he's in Indianapolis, and he just got the news that Martin Luther King was killed. And he goes on to say what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, y'all, Nate Burleson wants to both sides. And that was his response to both sides. This isn't a both sides thing. So half of left-leading Americans. Half of left-leading Americans were polled, assassinating Trump and Elon Musk would be justified. Half of left-leading Americans believe assassinating Donald Trump or Elon Musk would be justified. You know, 20% of Donald Trump's voters in November of 2024 said it was worth breaking off relations with people who voted for Kamala Harris. 60% of Kamala Harris voters said it was worth breaking off relationships with people who voted for Donald Trump. 60 to 20. When... Americans on the left are polled, when all Americans are pulled rather, Americans on the left say they're the ones most likely to suffer from not mental illness, but mental issues. They're the ones most likely to have therapy. They're the most likely to feel despair. They're the most likely to be overwhelmed. This isn't a problem on the right. There are isolated instances on the right, but you've got half of left-leading Americans think assassinating Trump and Elon Musk would be justified. You've got 60% of Kamala Harris voters thinking it is okay to end relationships with people who voted for Donald Trump. There are conservatives more likely to know people on the left than people on the left are to know people on the right. Progressives live in an isolated bubble where Nate Berlinson of CBS News can say things like he said, and it's acceptable discourse on the left. See, within the circle of the left, it's totally fine and acceptable to go on social media and say, well, screw that guy, you got what he deserved. There's a problem with the left right now. And the greater problem with the left is that the politicians on the left don't want to acknowledge the problem because they're afraid the left will turn on them. This is Dan Goldman on CNN.

There's something wrong in the country. What happened yesterday is not an aberrition. It is who we are becoming. We are a nation that celebrated Luigi Mangione, Biden's cancer diagnosis, and now the murder of Charlie Kirk. If we keep heading down this road, we won't need enemies abroad. We'll destroy ourselves from within. I got to tell you. I actually lose friends on the right and listeners as well for saying I have friends on the left. But I have more and more people on the left than on the right who just simply cannot be friends. The number of people since I got into conservative talk radio who just simply said, nope. We used to live in a house. Small starter home built in the early 1950s. Had a neighbor across the street from us. The name was Pete. We watched their house when they were out of town. They watched ours. Their dog got out. I helped wrestle the dog in. They sent baby gifts. They never really knew what I did for a living. I was a lawyer at first and then transitioned out to running Red State and being on TV. At some point, Keith Oberman named me the worst person of the world on his MSNBC show at the time. The relationship immediately changed to the effect that Pete, if I was in the front yard with my daughter at the time, would have been three or four years old, he would heckle us in the yard. He went out of his way to be obnoxious. and divisive and hateful just simply because he didn't like my politics. He had been a perfectly fine neighbor until the moment he realized who I was because Keith Oberman decided I was the worst person in the world. It was remarkable to watch the switch flip. And yep, he didn't know Jesus.

I'm not in a very preachy mood because I actually am kind of angry about what's happened in the last 24 hours. But I will tell you, there is a night and day difference between people who have a right relationship with God and people who don't. Charlie Kirk actually had a right relationship with God. I have no doubt. I'm kind of excited for Charlie in the sense of he's run the race, he's crossed the finish line, he's made it over to his eternal home. He actually gets to touch the face of the Lord today and we still have to wait. Morn for his family, but for him he's home. I think about those people who don't think about their home. their eternity. They live for the here and now, and what happens can erase them. And that's part of what's going on here is people don't have hope. It's one of the things Charlie's talked about in the past is giving people hope. The entirety of left-wing ideology right now is devoid of hope. The world is going to end. We're all going to burn. The hurricanes are going to get us. The tornadoes are going to get us. The Chinese and the Russians are going to get us. Trump's going to get us. Everything is bad. Everything is horrible. You can understand these people are being driven to despair, and there is a lot of despair to which people are being driven. They have no hope. When I interviewed Tim Keller before he passed away, you know, the New Testament talks a lot about hope. We have hope. You know what the hope is? It's actually a terrible, terrible translation. The hope talked about in Hebrews, the hope that Christians have. It's the profound certainty. We don't hope like we got the winning lottery ticket. No, the hope is a profound certainty that the resurrection is true. And when you have that hope, everything else kind of gets put in order.

And even the churches on the left these days, they don't have that hope. Their hope is building a heaven on earth. You're not going to get a heaven on earth because we're all sinners. We all fall short. And the left doesn't have hope. And so how do they manifest their lack of hope? Well, they isolate themselves from anyone who disagrees. They break up with friends. They turn to despair and anger when they lose power. They can't accommodate a world in which they're not in charge of it and don't control it. It's a profound certainty that I have, that Charlie had, that he has even more today, that these people don't have. And as a result, their lack of hope has turned to anger. And it is my hope that politicians on the Democratic side will, in fact, turn the corner and realize they've got a minister to their own side. It doesn't work for them to lecture Donald Trump and the GOP. They have no power over Donald Trump and the GOP. They've got to tell the people on the left, you can't resort to bullets. Against those you dislike, 60% of Harris voters believe that it is justifiable to break off relationships with people who didn't vote for Harris. Half of progressives in this country believe assassinating Donald Trump and Elon Musk are good things. That's serious mental issue. And it would behoove Barack Obama, Andrew Biden, and Kamala Harris, and Hakeem Jeffries, and Chuck Schumer, and the other Democrats, to stop trying to blame Donald Trump and stop trying to save both sides and instead tell the left. You can't settle your differences with bullets. How hard is it? The fact that none of them seem to be capable of doing it suggests they got real problems bigger than even you and I talk about on their side, that they can't do it. Those who love him? Listen to find out what he's going to say next. Those who disagree with him also listen to see what he's going to say next. It's the Eric Erickson Show. 95-5-WSB, Atlanta's News and Talk.

Just joined us? No worries. Check out the Eric Erickson Show 24-7 stream at Ericerickson.com. Available for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Greetings. It is Eric Erickson here. Let me give you two headlines. Charlie Kirk, right-wing force and a close Trump ally, dies at 31. Here's another one. Manhunt for suspect and political assassination rattles Minnesota. When the left dies, the New York Times, their political assassinations, when the right dies, they just die. The incredible, incredible. juxtaposition between how the media treats people on the right and people on the left. They just can't help themselves. Listen, I've talked a long time today because I had a lot of stuff I just needed to get out. And there are people who have been waiting on the phones for quite a while. I want to take your phone calls from across the country when we come back. This is a short segment, and I want to have justice with your phone calls. I'm sorry for making you guys wait, but a lot of stuff that has needed to be said and needed to get it off my chest before I pivot to your phone call. So the phone number is 877-97-973-7-4-25. If you want to follow along with the show notes, and at 8.46 a.m. this morning, which is the time the first plane hit at the World Trade Center, I sent out an email, and all it is is the list of the names of all the Americans killed on 9-11. If you text Eric to 33777. It's the very first link. And you can get the show notes and the live stream and the podcast and follow me on social media. There's a lot there today. And I apologize to those of you get overwhelmed with the emails that you're getting probably more than normal today and yesterday, but kind of necessary. Old Glory Bank is my bank. They're headquartered at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and they would love to have your business. They are a bank by conservatives. They are bank for conservatives. They do business accounts. They've got great business management. They do car loans, home loans, CDs, business loans, business development. They're a regular bank. What sets them apart is that conservatives started them, so you as a conservative. Don't have to worry about the debanking trends that have happened with a number of banks around the country. And they got your back. They support you. They support veterans. In fact, you're a veteran or a first responder. They have great deals on checking and savings accounts. I've got a no-fee checking in a no-fee savings account. They have accounts that generate interest, among other things. You go to old glorybank.com slash Eric.

Oldglorybank.com slash E-R-I-C-K. Sign up with Oldglorybank.com today. Get your checking account. Get your savings account. Start doing business with them. They're good people out in Oklahoma. OldGlorybank.com slash Eric. Remember FDIC, Equal housing lender, terms and conditions apply. Hello there, it's Eric Erickson here across the nation. The phone number is 877-973-745. Let's go to the phones. Let's begin with Victor in with Victor in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Victor, sorry to keep you waiting so long. Thank you for being patient. Sure. I just wanted to call in and offer some encouragement. You know, it's hard to quantify. suffering in the body of Christ, especially with the modern day message that's presented to us on a regular basis. But the Bible is pretty descriptive in the level of suffering. We as believers that will suffer, and I see the sacrifice that Charlie was willing to make. And I'm sure he counted the cost. And I can only imagine the things that you're confronted with on a daily basis in terms of threats and violence and stuff because of your message. And so we as the church, when we bring forth a message of truth, we are going to be on the receiving end, and that's ordained. Jesus said in John 15 that, know this, they will hate you, but they hated me first. And so we are being given the privilege and the opportunity to enter into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. And that's what we're called to. It shouldn't be a surprise when someone has to even pay with their lives for bringing forth that message. I just want to encourage him. Charlie has a special crown that he's earned through his sacrifice. And I suffer his loss, too, like I'm sure we all do. But I just wanted to encourage him that he's had an impact in this world, and his impact doesn't stop with his death. There will be beauty from ashes in life out of that. Victor, thank you for that. Look, I appreciate it. That's very well said. Yeah, he ran the race and finished. And yeah. Yeah. Let's go to Jack. Berlin, Connecticut. Jack, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you. I was thinking about as a teenager watching Richard Nixon's resignation speech. He, you can tell how much he felt the hate. And he said in the speech, always remember that others may hate you, but unless you hate them, they don't win. And if you do, then you destroy yourself. And the way he said it, you could feel that he was being.

crushed down by this overwhelming hate, and that message stuck with me. And it applies today, even though the rancor then was bad, but nothing like now. Yeah, and, you know, it's such a good line because hate is so easy. It really is, it's the easy thing and it's the thing that social media really plays up. Social media brings out the worst in people. And it's so much easier to hate these days. It's just, it's incredibly easy for people to hate. It's hard to love. Love your neighbor. Your neighbor's a jerk. And yet you've got to love your neighbor. Hating your neighbor is so much easier to hate people, particularly people you don't know. It becomes hard to hate people once you know them. It's very interesting that some of the loudest voices condemning what happened to Charlie Kirk are people he has in the past debated and disagreed with. And they came to liking.

But it's easy to hate. Blake in Jacksonville, Florida, you're on the show. Welcome to the show, Blake. How are you? Well, Eric, and thank you for the graciousness of allowing you to call in every once in a while. Your comments have been prescient and just very illuminating, and just thank you for that. The reason I'm calling is because in many ways I connect with Charlie being sort of an individual doing something that other people should be doing. And I want to encourage people to take this emotion and this lesson that we've learned from Charlie. and do something with it. And that's something is buried in the word petition in the First Amendment. We're all called to petition government. And we are silent in the public square, the city council and the school boards. We are not there standing against the agenda, which attacked Charlie yesterday. And that's something that we need to be doing, and we absolutely have to be doing. If we have been doing this for all these years, I don't know that we would be where we are, but we can no longer stand silent. Charlie didn't. I don't hear in Jacksonville, and we all need to stand up and join each other and walk shoulder to shoulders. We stand to protect our Constitution and our scriptural values. That's well said. I mean, we've got to be able to. Stand up. We've got to be able to speak and I would tell people and you know this is what I told my family last night who they're worried. And, you know, I got to say, in all honesty, I feel a little silly with the number of people sending me notes thinking about you, hope you're safe. I didn't live in the world that Charlie Kirk lived in at the level that Charlie Kirk lived in it. He, you know, he had a radio show, but he was actually really known for turning point and for organizing on campus and being in the president's inner circle. And he had a lot of notoriety in that regard that I don't feel like I'm in the, I don't feel like I deserve. any of the people wishing me well and hope you're safe. I don't think I got the target on my back that Charlie had on his. But what I told my family last night is, well, I appreciate their concerns and the concerns of everyone else. Now is the time to be bold. And it is the time to stand up and speak. It now is the time to be the truth teller. To not back down. It is necessary that truth prevail and that good prevail and that people on both sides who are ready to fight. Fight with ballots, not bullets. Fight with their voice, not their fist. And to call people to their better angels.

And if I can use my platform to call people to their better angels, then that's what I need to do. But I don't worry. I'm not. I'm concerned about Ben Shapiro, frankly. And people hate Ben far more than they ever hated Charlie. Ben has to go everywhere with security. But I appreciate the concern for people. I'm not concerned at all. I don't think I have that high a profile as a lot of these guys like Ben and Charlie do. But I know that regardless, this is not a time to live in fear or to cower or to hide, but to be out there and be bold with truth. Steve in Springfield, Massachusetts, I'm going to go to you next. Welcome to the show, sir. How are you? Hi, Eric. How are you doing? Great. Dad, that put a bullet in my heart hearing about Charlie Kirk. He was such a bright light. He was so young. He was so brilliant. They couldn't win an argument with him. No, they couldn't. They, I mean, they didn't even want to. And that's the thing that is so infuriating here is this person never even tried to make an argument. They just, they wanted to confront his words with a bullet. You know, and I am starting to really despise people. They can't win an argument, so they have to stir up hatred like the Nazis did, like Mao did. That's what they do. They stir up an argument. They stir up hatred because they can't win the argument, you know. And they love communism so much. Their favorite revolution was the French Revolution, guillotine the royalty, and then guillotine each other. And they don't believe that you have a right to own property. You know, so see, yeah, it is. And so I'm glad you bring up that French Revolution because the, you know, the revolution turns on itself. The revolutionaries get eaten by the revolution. And that history shows that that happens. I mean, think about the Chris Murphy's of the world who are out there saying, this is a war, you've got to fight in ways you haven't had to fight before. We've got to fight fire with fire to save democracy. Along comes this person who kills Charlie Kirk. And Chris Murphy's like, oh, I mean, I didn't really mean. At some point, people on the left are going to come for the guys like Chris Murphy. Say, you told us to fight. We fought. And now you say that's not it. It's wild to see these sorts of things. So he's back on MSNBC after all of that. And he's trying to tie all this to January 6 now. I'm certainly thinking about the quickening pace of political violence in this country. In an extraordinarily short amount of time, you've seen the murder of state legislators in Minnesota attempted assassinations of the president of the United States, obviously.

January 6th still lives in our very present memory. And we've got to have a conversation about how we draw a line here. And we can't afford to argue who's more at risk, the right or the left. The fact of the matter is the shots are being fired and political figures, whether they are Republicans are. Democrats, there has been a permissiveness about political violence, and I do think the President of the United States has to answer for the way in which he's created that culture of permissiveness, but there have been elements of the left who have lionized and celebrated violence as well, and this is a moment for everybody to assess where we are and recognize that our entire democratic experiment is going to crumble if people don't believe that they're safe when they express their political views. You know, I agree with that, except this is the same guy who told Chuck Todd that we got to fight fire with fire. This is a war. You don't say this is a war unless you're willing to fight like it's a war. The hysteria from these people. And then when people take them at their word, so like I didn't really meet it, but Trump, but Trump, but Trump. You know what? I'm going to play Brian Stelter here from CNN. Yep, going to play Brian Stelter, who I often criticize on this program. Let me just let you listen. to every word of this. The prayers are so all-consuming right now and bipartisan. Everyone from President Trump and Vice President JD Vance to members of the cabinet to Democratic leaders like Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, bipartisan condemnation of this act of political violence. It's a reminder, Brianna, that... In a country like America, in a democracy, we only have a democracy if we settle our disagreements with words, not with violence. You know, for the liberals, for the anti-Trump voices, for the anti-Gerk voices out there who feel despair about the direction of the country's politics, the way to address that is through words, not through violence. And so whenever we see one of these appalling crimes, it is disturbing because it cuts to the core of how the American democracy functions. Amen. He is absolutely right. Absolutely right. We don't settle these disagreements, and yet there are those, and yes, on the left, there are those who are filled with such despair they've decided that it's time to be violent, that listen. Well, I'll just, I'll say this because I feel very strongly about it. I, you know, I don't tell you guys things. I don't believe. My job is never to tell you what you want to hear, and oftentimes tell you stuff you don't want to hear. Whether you want to hear it or not, I think everybody needs to hear this. If you don't have something other than politics in your life, and politics goes against you,

You have nothing to fill the void that will be left behind, and so the void will be filled with despair. There is a reason that the sociological date in this country for decades has now shown that regular churchgoers who actually believe the Bible are the happiest people. They tend to live the longest. They have the best mental health because they have Jesus. When the whole world fails you, he never does. When the world doesn't give you what you want, he finds a way to give you what you need. People who have Jesus have no room for the void because he fills it so completely and perfectly. So on the left, you have people turning to violence. On the right, You have people who have turned to violence. And a common denominator is they have no hope in the resurrection. They don't have Jesus filling the void. So they try to fill the void. And when they fill the void, they oftentimes fill it with violence. There are so many people on the left who are secular who believe this world is all we have. There is a reason that so many of the mass murders and genocides in history have come from secular ideology, from communism, from the Nazis, the beheadings during the French Revolution, because they were trying to build utopia, trying to build heaven on earth because they had no concept of heaven. They had no eternal resting place. They were trying to make it here. Still, they try to make it here. They have a void. in their soul, in their heart, and they will fill it oftentimes violently. Trying to get these people to fill that void with something other than politics is necessary. And the best way to fill it with something that will eternally fill it. And too many people don't like to talk about that.

Hazy Eric will clear the way. It's the Eric Erickson show. All the news, weather, and traffic you need. 955.WsB. Four things you need to know, podcast, giving you the four things to pay attention to after the show. Available on YouTube and your favorite podcast app. Or by texting Eric to 33777. Welcome back. Bruce, I want to go to you next. Welcome to the show, sir. How are you? The thought that came to me when we've had this discussion you're having today is that there's an awful lot of difference. We go to love or hate, and it isn't that. There's people, as I told Charlie, I really liked Richard Nixon and voted for him, but after I heard what he did, I didn't respect him. But when you don't respect, that doesn't give you a license to go shoot or firebomb somebody. It's that simple. And, I mean, I look at other people. He's women on the view. I just never listened to him, but I hear what they've said. That's hard to respect. And Joe Biden, I can't tell you I hate him. But when you look at the things he did, every time I go in a store and spend money, he's taken money out of my pocket by what he did. And it was his ignorance that did it. The point is that... If we change it, I can disrespect a lot of people. That doesn't mean I have to, I can't like and love them and want them to go to heaven. Yeah, you know, I, again, it's, it's, you don't have to agree with people. It doesn't mean to hate them. Too many people, it's, hate is, is cheap. Hate is easy. A lot of people want to take the easy, easy, easy path. And it's just, it's, it's so unfortunate. Americans for prosperity, they're trying to get people to recommit to freedom, and maybe today is the perfect day to maybe really think about going to AFP Volunteer.com. They want you to take one step for freedom in your community. If 250,000 people do it, think about 250,000 steps for freedom in time for our 250th anniversary as a nation. If we make it that long, I assume we will. Go to afpvolunteer.com today, sign up with AFP. Commit to recommitting to freedom, the freedoms that our founders wanted us to have, to enjoy, to take. AFP volunteer.com is where you want to go, AFP volunteer.com. They want 250,000 of us to take a step for freedom, and there are 250,000 steps for freedom challenge. Prove your community, improve your state, improve your country with just one step for freedom at afpvolunteer.com. Go sign up today.